Two weeks before British citizens go to the polls, our third roundtable on the Brexit referendum took place. Our key questions concerned current British debates, the latest developments in British politics at the eve of the referendum, as well as British, German, and European perspectives on how to proceed after this – in any case – decisive moment for Europe.
We had the opportunity to hear first hand insights out of Britain from Roger Liddle (Member of the House of Lords and Co-Chair of Policy Network). This was followed by two responses from Jens Zimmermann (Member of the German Parliament and Vice Chair of the German-British Parliamentary Group) and Daniela Schwarzer (Head of Europe Programme, German Marshall Fund of the United States). To conclude our roundtable discussion, Philip Oltermann (Berlin Bureau Chief, The Guardian) provided an outlook.
The roundtable was jointly organised together with Policy Network.
Dominic Schwickert has been Executive Director of Das Progressive Zentrum since 2012. He has proven expertise in the field of political and strategic consulting. Dominic worked i.a. for Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Bertelsmann Stiftung, IFOK GmbH, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, German Bundestag as well as for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Sven Altenburger was Project Manager at Das Progressive Zentrum from 2015 to 2017. His work focused on the “Future of Democracy” and in particular the coordination of the “Countering Populism and Political Disaffection” project.
The transition away from fossil fuels is as much about democratic resilience as it is about energy. Steve Patterson explores the “political whiplash” of shifting national policies and the enduring struggle to protect community heritage from the erosion of both physical landscapes and institutional norms.
The CDU/CSU and SPD parties have reached an agreement in the exploratory talks at a remarkable speed to create a special fund for infrastructure and to provide a far-reaching opportunity to increase defense spending beyond the limits of the debt brake. How should these proposals be assessed? What needs to be considered for the sustainable success of this modernization agenda? These questions were discussed on March 7, 2025, in a background roundtable with experts.
Progressive parties swiftly need to turn the dial, Florian Ranft states in The Guardian. The attention needs to be moved from simply despising the enemies of democracy to what people really expect.
